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Compiled by 

RT CARLT 

Honorary National President Service Star Legion 



MRS. ROBERT CARLTON MORRIS 



Published by 

FRANK S. SHANKLAND 

502 Polk Building 

Des Moines, Iowa 






S+ 



Copyright, 1920 

By 

MRS. ROBERT CARLTON MORRIS. 

Published November, 1920. 



24 1920 
cl fc600079 



FOREWORD 



The program of the third annual con- 
vention of Service Star Lesion included 
an Hour of Remembrance in honor of 
the women of America whose blue stars 
turned to gold during the tragic days of 
the World War. 

As national president of the organiza- 
tion I keenly desired that these women 
might receive, on this occasion, greetings 
from statesmen, prelates, and leaders, and 
messages penned by writers who, having 
the gift of words, can express the undying 
love and gratitude of us all. 

The following inspiring letters were re- 
ceived in response to my request, and 
were exhibited during the convention in 
the corridors of the state capitol of Iowa, 
at Des Moines. 

The letters are now published in book 
form, in order that all American women 
may be inspired to continue to serve the 
highest good of our beloved country in 
these days of peace, even as we served in 
war. 

Mrs. Robert Carlton Morris, 

Past National President Service 
Star Legion, 

2648 Kirkwood Lane. 
Toledo, Ohio. 



THE WHITE HOUSE 
Washington. 

To The Service Star Legion: 

The time has now come when it is pos- 
sible to survey and properly appraise the 
service rendered to their countrv bv the 
women who stayed at home during the late 
war and did their part in the great task by 
lightening the burden of the men who 
went out to fight, and perhaps to die, for 
high principles. In this, as in all other 
wars, victory would not have been possible 
without the sustaining spirit of the loved 
ones at home, and the memory of the 
brave women who bore their sacrifices 
with fortitude will be forever cherished by 
a grateful country. 

With those members of the Lesion who 
rejoice in having back with them the ones 
whom they willingly gave to the service, 
I rejoice; but to those members who evi- 
dence their sacrifice by the gold star they 
wear, I can do no more than to remind 
them that death in so great a cause is a 
glorious victory, and that their sacrifices 
will be made the foundations for enduring 
understanding and amity between na- 
tions. 

Woodrow Wilson 

Page Four 



American Expeditionary Forces 
Office of the Commander in Chief. 

Washington, D. C. 
July 8, 1920. 

My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

On the occasion of the special session 
of your annual convention in honor of the 
women whose sons and husbands gave 
their lives in the World War, I would be 
gratified if you will convey to them my 
respectful greetings. To the wives and 
mothers of the men who made the su- 
preme sacrifice came the great sorrow of 
the war. Yet, while they carry the heavi- 
est burden of our loss and command the 
deepest sympathy, the knowledge that 
their men set the highest example of pa- 
triotism and devotion to the country and 
died as heroes in a great cause must be 
a great consolation in their sorrow. 

I tender them my deepest sympathy 
and at the same time my congratulations 
on being the mothers and wives of men 
whose sacrifice will be an inspiration to 
our people for all time. 

Very sincerely yours, 

John J. Pershing 

Page Five 



WAR DEPARTMENT 

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF 

WASHINGTON 

August 31, 1920. 
My dear Madam: — 

It gives me great pleasure in answering 
your letter of August 2, 1920, to extend to 
the Service Star Legion, through their 
National President, my very sincere 
wishes for the continued success of an 
organization founded on such broad pa- 
triotic principles as are set forth in its con- 
stitution. There is before the Service Star 
Legion together with the American Leg- 
ion, an unlimited field of national patriotic 
endeavor, especially at a time when there 
is so much unrest throughout the world, 
and I feel sure that the interest of the 
women relatives of the men and women 
who actively participated in the World 
War in the former and in the present 
enlisted and commissioned personnel of 
the Army and Navy, and their patriotic 
efforts to promote and to guard their wel- 
fare will constitute a great service to our 
country. 

By serving to promote the maintenance 
of the cordial and helpful co-operation 

Page Six 



which the women of the country during 
the war so generously extended to the 
Army, and which constituted a very great 
factor in the development of the matchless 
morale which characterized it throughout 
the War they will add materially to the 
future contentment and efficiency of the 
Army and will perpetuate the memories 
of the brave women who shared in its 
hardships and in its accomplishments dur- 
ing the World War. 

Very sincerely yours, 

Peyton C. March 
Chief of Staff, U. S. Army. 



Page Seven 



Chicago, Illinois, 
July 22, 1920. 

My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

Your letter of the fourteenth with ref- 
erence to the Service Star Legion reached 
me this morning. 

We could not have played our part in 
the great World's War as we did had it 
not been for the work and support of 
American women. Their suDnort of the 
war made it possible to apply the draft law 
without friction, to call nearly five million 
men to the colors for service in the Army, 
Navy and the Marine Corps, to send two 
million men overseas feeling that the en- 
tire country was behind them. Our 
women were filled with the spirit of ser- 
vice and sacrifice. Upon many fell the 
sorrow and burden of loss through death 
in service. While the loss has been great 
and the burden of sorrow heavy to bear, 
it is a consolation to know that the sacri- 
fice was made in the great cause of human 
rights. 

It is now our duty to see to it that the 
sacrifice was not made in vain. We must do 
all we can to keep alive that spirit of 
friendship between ourselves and the 
Allies which grew out of the Great War, 

Page Eight 



and while doing this reach out a friendly 
hand and do what we can to aid in the re- 
establishment of normal conditions in the 
war-swept areas. 

They who died did their duty fully. It 
now remains for us who live to so do our 
duty that those who have gone before 
will not have died in vain. 

Very sincerely yours, 

Leonard Wood 



Page Nine 



Archeveche de Malines 
August 2d, 1920. 

Dear Madam: — 

I am grateful for the opportunity you 
give me of expressing my sympathy and 
appreciation to the mothers, wives, sisters 
and daughters of the many brave Ameri- 
cans who fought so gallantly for our free- 
dom during the Great War. 

I send them my heartiest greetings, and 
remain, 

Yours very truly, 

D. J. Cardinal Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 

Mrs. Robert Carlton Moms, 
National President 
Service Star Legion, 
Toledo, Ohio. 



Page Ten 



Translated from the French 

SENAT 

Julv 15, 1920. 

Madam President: 

I have been a witness, during long 
months, of the magnificent devotion 
which, during the hostilities, the mothers, 
wives, sisters and daughters of America 
have given proof, and I thank you for giv- 
ing the opportunity to express to the 
"Service Star Legion" my undivided 
admiration. 

Please accept, Madam, my distinguished 
homage. 

Poincare 



Page Eleven 



Translated from the French 



Chamber of the Deputies 

72 Boulvd. de Courcelles 

Paris, July 26, 1920. 



Madam President: 

Mr. Rene Viviani has received your 
letter and is very glad over the new oppor- 
tunity which is offered him to renew his 
admiration and his gratitude to the Ameri- 
can women, who have served in the 
World's War. 

Please accept, Madam President, the 
assurance of my most distinguished es- 
teem. 

Le Secretaire 



Page Twelve 



Translated from the French 

Cabinet of the Kins 
No. 2683 Palace of Brussels, 

July 27, 1920. 

Madam the President: 

The King has learned with great interest 
of the communication which you were 
kind enough to address to him by your 
letter of June 28 past, and His Majesty has 
ordered me to take the honor of felicitat- 
ing you in his name for the pious work, 
which you have undertaken, in honoring 
the memory of the dead of the great war 
within those whom they have left among 
us. 

My sovereign is glad to be able to tell 
you this and he is sending to the mothers 
and wives whom you intend to honor at 
your reunion of next September, the ex- 
pression of his cordial and real sympathy. 

Please accept, Madam President, my re- 
spectful homage. 

The Chief of the Roval Cabinet 

Count d' Arschot 



Page Thirteen 



Maryfield, 

114, Stamford Hill, N.16 

London, July 29, 1920. 

Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

Will you give the following message 
from me to the Service Star Legion at 
your Convention in September. 

As a War Correspondent in France and 
Flanders during the great years of tragedy 
and heroism, I want to tell the American 
women whose sons and husbands gave 
their lives for liberty with noble self-sacri- 
fice, that England is grateful to them, and 
that we shall never forget them for their 
gift of manhood when we were hard press- 
ed. 

I saw the suffering of men and the death 
of glorious youth on the fields of battle. 
But I saw also, and my heart bled most, 
for the suffering of the mothers who 
gave their sons, and agonized for them. 

It is the women of the world, with 
American women leading, who alone can 
prevent another such sacrifice by chang- 
ing the hearts of the people and leading 
them through the great adventure of 
Peace to nobler ways of life. 

Believe me, 

Yours very sincerely 

Philin Gibbs 

Page Fourteen 



Far End. 

East Preston, 

Sussex. 

August 3rd, 1920. 

Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

There can be only one message to 
women who have lost a son, a brother, or 
a husband in the War, and that is that up- 
on them in particular lies the solemn duty 
of seeing that their beloved ones did not 
die in vain. The cause of world-liberty 
is far from being won. On the contrary, 
so complex is the working of human 
forces, that it has had, in some respects, a 
set-back, even in America itself. There 
will never really be world-liberty until 
mankind not only believes in liberty, but 
is able to endure it. 

I join with your expression of love and 
gratitude towards the women who have 
to bear so unfair a part of the common 
burden. We, too, have to see that it has 
not been borne in vain. 

Sincerely yours, 

Israel Zangwill 



Page Fifteen 



Ewhurst, 

Rottingdean, 

Sussex. 

August 9th, 1920. 

Dear Mrs. Moms: — 

I must thank you very much for your 
letter of June 28th, which has only just 
reached me here in England. I regard it 
as a great privilege to be asked to send a 
message to your annual convention in 
September; and I think that the best I can 
offer is contained in the following lines 
from a poem which I wrote recently. I 
hope that they will reach you in time, and 
that they will serve your purpose. 

With best wishes, 

Yours sincerely, 

Alfred Noyes 



Page Sixteen 



There's but one gift that all our dead de- 
sire, 
One gift that men can give, and that's 
a dream, 
Unless we, too, can bum with that same 
fire 
Of sacrifice; die to the things that seem: 
Die to the little hatreds; die to greed; 

Die to the old ignoble selves we knew; 
Die to the base contempts of sect and 
creed, 
And rise again, like these, with souls as 
true. 

Nay (since these died before their task was 
finished) 
Attempt new heights, bring even their 
dreams to birth, 
Build us that better world, 0, not di- 
minished 
By one true splendour that they plan- 
ned on earth. 
And that's not done by sword, or tongue, 
or pen, 
There's but one way. God make us 
better men. 

Alfred Noyes. 



Page Seventeen 



Oswalds, 
Bishopsbourne, Kent. 

Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

All I can say in my individual capacity 
would be inadequate to express the pro- 
found and sympathetic appreciation and 
respect for those American women who 
at the call of humanity had made the 
sacrifice of these affections that make life 
on this earth sweet and valuable to human 
beings possessed of natural affections. 

There is no comfort and consolation 
that one can offer suchbereavements except 
the expression of one's conviction that 
their sufferings will be always remember- 
ed as courageously borne in the greatest 
idealistic movement that the American 
Republic has contributed so far to human 
history. 

I am, dear Mrs. Morris, 

Yours very obedient servant, 

Joseph Conrad 



Page Eighteen 



63, Avenue De Paris 
Versailles (S-&-0) 

August 2, 1920. 

My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

Your letter of July sixth has been for- 
warded to me here in France, bv the 
George H. Doran Publishing Company. 
This will account then for mv apparent 
tardiness in answering. 

I am indeed flattered to feel that any- 
thing I might have to say would be of in- 
terest to those to whom the world owes a 
debt of gratitude. It seems to me, how- 
ever, that the glory of their sacrifice is be- 
yond any earthly praise; and the spirit of 
love in which it was made will persist as 
long as the world lasts, making immortal 
the names of all those who gave their lives 
for the cause of liberty and justice. 

Faithfully yours, 

Frances Wilson Huard 



Page Nineteen 



Dunstall Priory 
Shoreham, Sevenoaks 

July 28, 1920. 
My dear Mrs. Moms: — 

In reply to your letter I feel that any- 
thing I could say of them would be pre- 
sumptive. The best that any of us can 
say is what one feels in one of those rare 
moments of what we call inspiration. So 
I send you what I wrote in November of 
the year before last when I heard we had 
won the war, and I tried to express a feel- 
ing that suddenly came to me as I looked 
back dimly over things I had seen, and 
dimly felt what they meant. 

If I dare offer anything to the wives and 
mothers of the fallen, I should like to of- 
fer them that. 

Yours very sincerely 

Dunsany 



Page Twenty 



A DIRGE OF VICTORY 

Lift not thy trumpet, Victory, to the sky, 
Nor through battalions nor by batteries 

blow, 
But over hollows full of old wire go, 
Where among dregs of war the long-dead 

lie 
With wasted iron that the guns passed by 
When they went eastwards like a tide at 

flow; 
There blow thy trumpet that the dead may 

know, 
Who waited for thy coming, Victory. 

It is not we that have deserved thy wreath. 

They waited there among the towering 
weeds : 

The deep mud burned under the thermite's 
breath, 

And winter cracked the bones that no man 
heeds: 

Hundreds of nights flamed by: The sea- 
sons passed: 

And thou has come to them at last, at last. 

Dunsany. 



Page Twenty-one 



London, England 

July 16th, 1920. 
My dear Mrs. Morris: 

Your Service Star Legion is a noble Or- 
ganization, and I am pleased to know it 
has taken hold of the minds of the Ameri- 
can people. 

Those who gave their lives in the Great 
War for the cause of the Allies were giv- 
ing a boon to humanity. The United 
States coming into the conflict made its 
end sure, and once more showed that the 
American people are the persistent friends 
of Freedom and Liberty and Justice and 
Right. The co-operation of the United 
States gave the death-blow to the tyranny 
of Germany, which aimed at world-do- 
minion. The United States in helping so 
powerfully to serve the world, served her 
own interests as well, for sooner or later 
she would have been attacked by Ger- 
many. 

To them who gave of their blood and 
bone and flesh and life for this high cause, 
I, as a life-long admirer of the American 
people, say that their supreme sacrifice 
is sacred in the minds of all those who 
care for the welfare of the world. 
Sincerely yours, 

Gilbert Parker 

Page Twenty-two 



Hill Crest, 

Boar's Hill 

Oxford. 



Dear Mrs. Morris: — 



Thank you for your letter of June 28th. 

I would just say: "Count us your 
Allies still for the patching up of this bat- 
tered world." 

Wishing you a most happy and success- 
ful Convention, I am, 

Yours sincerely, 

John Masefield 



Page Twenty-three 



Coole Park, 

Gort, 

Co. Galway, Ireland. 

July 18, 1920. 

Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

"It is not a little thing for a man to die, 
and he protecting his neighbor." 

That is a thought from the old Irish, 
that often comes to mind, and may per- 
haps dwell also in the mind of other sor- 
rowing mothers whose loss has been akin 
to my own, and they have my love and 
sympathy. 

Very truly yours, 

Augusta Gregory 



Page Twenty-four 



54 Westgate, 
Winnipeg, Canada. 

July 21, 1920. 



Dear Madam: — 

To offer sympathy to the women of 
our common Anglo-Saxon race who have 
given their men for the cause of justice 
and freedom would be almost an insult, 
unless with the sympathy I hasten to offer 
my respectful felicitation that they have 
been privileged to give husband or son 
to the greatest cause in world history for 
which men have ever died or women sacri- 
ficed. 

America, as Canada, entered the Great 
War not for glory nor for gain; but, that 
those essential principles that all free 
nations reverence in common may be pre- 
served to form the common heritage of 
the race, our men died and our women 
gave them to death. 

The splendid valor, the endurance, the 
gallant devotion of our men upon the 
field of battle were only equalled by the 
same qualities of valor, endurance and 
devotion in the women who sent them 
forth. To these women I venture to send 
my respectful greeting, and ask the privi- 

Page Twenty-five 



lege to join with them in thanksgiving to 
Almighty God by Whose grace they were 
enabled to make complete that sacrifice 
for the good of human-kind, the surrender 
of those whom they loved better than life 
for a cause greater than life. 

And may I venture to suggest, for their 
comfort and inspiration to further sacri- 
fice, that those whom they have given 
have passed not into, but through the 
realm of the dead and have found their 
place among the immortals. 

Yours very truly, 

Charles W. Gordon 

"Ralph Connor" 



Page Twenty- six 



Cardinal's Residence 

408 N. Charles St. 

Baltimore. 

July 3, 1920. 
My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

It is a real pleasure to send a few words 
of greeting to the third annual convention 
of the Service Star Legion. 

I understand you desire particularly to 
honor those noble women whose sons and 
husbands gave their lives in the Great 
War. While the men on the field of bat- 
tle made the supreme sacrifice, the dear 
ones they left at tome made another kind 
of sacrifice which they alone can under- 
stand. The glory that comes to their de- 
parted is their glory as well. To each and 
everyone I send my sincere sympathy. 

With sentiments of esteem, 
I am, 

Fathfully yours in Christ 

J. Cardinal Gibbons, 
Archbishop of Baltimore. 



Page Twenty-seven 



So. Worthington, Mass. 

July 27th, 1920. 
Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

It is an honor which everyone of us ap- 
preciates deeply to be associated with the 
patriotic men and women who sympathize 
sincerely with those whose hearts have 
been so fatally wounded by the fatalities 
of the World War. "A wounded spirit, 
who can heal." 

Every honest citizen, interested in the 
welfare of his country, will be glad to help 
those who suffer in consequence of the 
War; for the Nation would never be safe 
in future emergencies if it did not show 
its gratitude to those afflicted in the last 
great victory. One could not devoutly 
raise his eyes to the Great White Throne 
in sincere praise or prayer if he had neg- 
lected to sympathize with and care for "the 
least of these." 

My soul's heartiest greetings goes out to 
each one of them. 

Yours in fraternal fellowship, 

Russell H. Con well 



Page Twenty-eight 



Dear Mrs, Moms: — 

No words of any body can add to the 
worth of such women as gave and lost for 
the world's sake, their brave men. 

Such doings belong to the epic poetry of 
human kind. They make us proud to be- 
long to the human family. 

The graves of the dead soldiers are not 
so deep as the wounds in the hearts of 
those women who long with unabated 
longing for the voices and the presence 
they shall not have to solace them again. 

The best I know to utter is — "May the 
Lord God, whose the battle was, bless and 
comfort their hearts and heal their 
wounds by the springtime of His presence. 
Other help is there none." 

William A. Quayle, 
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church 

August 15, 1920 



Page Twenty-nine 



Rev. Francis A. Kelley 

National Chaplin, American Legion 

1312 Massachusetts Ave. N. W. 

Washington, D. C. 



My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I am in receipt of your letter of June 
13th, which was forwarded to my Wash- 
ington address from Troy, New York. I 
am indeed privileged to be asked by you 
to send my greetings to the members of 
your Organisation. It is not given to 
every man to talk to those who have pro- 
vided so splendidly in the past and the 
present for the safety and continuance of 
American Democracy. 

Here in America women occupy a posi- 
tion more honored than in any other 
country of which I know. Justly is this 
the case because of the fact that Mothers 
make and fashion the destinies of nations 
through their sons. 

If America has been called the home 
of the brave, is not one justified in saying 
that the title finds its foundation in the 
bravery and the high-mindedness, the de- 
votion to duty and the spirit of self-sacri- 
fice which animates our American 
woman-hood? Boys were brave in battle 
because Mothers had brought them up to 

Page Thirty 



be honest, zealous, devoted and God fear- 
ing sons. No man is a coward save only 
the one who fears to meet his God. Our 
lads, bearing the reflection of the noble 
training of our noble mothers, possessed 
no fear of the meeting with their God, and 
for that reason we had no craven cowards. 

It has been said that the men who gave 
their lives on foreign battle fields made 
a sacrifice supreme. I do not feel that 
such is truly the case. My idea of 
supreme sacrifice is that which is made 
by the American Mother who knows 
that her American son shall know no com- 
ing back to her hearth and her home, yet 
raises her heart and thanks her God that 
it was her privilege to give, that by her 
giving America might continue. 

One American Mother, whose heart was 
wrung with anguish at the loss of her son, 
wrote to another son in service and said: 
"You asked me to be brave in the cross 
which God has sent me. Let me tell you, 
my dear boy, I was the proudest Mother 
in all America when I saw my two sons 
march forth to the service of their 
country. I felt I had given my all to my 
country, and you may know now that in 
the giving I had no string on the gift." 
What could one expect of Mothers whose 
hearts flowed over with such a spirit of 

Page Thirty-one 



patriotic devotion and resignation to the 
will of God? Whilst American Mothers 
may mourn and grieve, their sons are 
basking in the light of the God of Peace. 
They live where no war, nobattle is known. 
Why then say that these lads have made 
the sacrifice supreme? Yea, rather say, 
their Mothers who sit and find their only 
solace in the thought of the happiness of 
their sons and the fullness of their sacri- 
fice, these, I say, are the ones who have 
made the supreme sacrifice. 

May God rear for America another 
generation like to the women with which 
He blessed America during the recent 
World's War. In that shall we find our 
hope — that America may continue as the 
haven of those who seek liberty and free- 
dom, as the nation of intrepid Warriors, 
as the land of the men who know no serf- 
dom, and the home of those who know no 
ism, save Americanism. 

I pray God bless you, your national of- 
ficers and the members of your Legion. 
All the world honors them. At their feet 
we place the wreath of victory, knowing 
that through them and by them came 
forth our victorious army — an army 
which fought for none greater, for none 
worthier, than those who gather within the 
ranks of your organization. 

Page Thirty-two 



Again I say, God bless you and prosper 
your Organization, and may the woman- 
hood of America in years to come find in 
what you stand for an example which will 
cause them to emulate in every particular 
and noble standard you have set. 

Very sincerely 

Francis A. Kelley 

National Chaplain, American Legion. 



Page Thirty-three 



Sagamore Hill, 
August 11, 1920. 
My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I can send no greeting closer to my 
heart than the enclosed message: — copied 
from the book which my husband pub- 
lished after Quentin fell. It is dedicated 
to every member of The Service Star 
Legion. 

Will you tell them for me that I keenly 
feel how closely we are united in the kin- 
ship of ideals snared. 

Faithfully yours, 

Edith Kermit Roosevelt 



"Nations are made, defended and pre- 
sered, not by the illusionists, but by the 
men and women who practice the homely 
virtues in time of peace, and who in time 
of righteous war are ready to die, or to 
send those they love best to die, for a 
shining ideal." 

Theodore Roosevelt 

From 
The Great Adventure 
Page 83. 

Page Thirty- four 



Short Hills, New Jersey 

August 12th, 1920. 
My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I am just home from a long holiday and 
find your letter concerning the Service 
Star Legion. May I thank you for it and 
send with this a certain verse that I think 
will convey the message I would like best 
to send. 

I think the gratitude and admiration of 
the world so rightly belongs to these wives 
and mothers that they must be aware of 
it unconsciously — as one is of the air and 
light, but a word of comfort — no matter 
how faltering it is — is good to hear some- 
time and sometimes helps a little. 

With every good wish, believe me, 

Most sincerely yours, 

Theodosia Garrison 



Page Thirty-five 



THE EASTER ANGEL 

Two angels were in Mary's life, — 
One came when she was young, 
When the fields of Spring were blossom- 
ing 
And the birds of morning sung. 
In a green garden between folded wings 
He gave her heart the promise that was 
Spring's. 

Two angels were in Mary's life, — 

One came when she was old, 

She sought her Son on an Easter dawn 

In a carven tomb and cold, 

And Lo, one stood before her there who 

said: 
"Rejoice, Rejoice. "He lives and is not 

dead!" 

Two angels were in Mary's life, — 
The second loved she best; 
God grant this day he comes to stay 
Each heart that grief-possessed 
May turn to sudden rapture at the voice 
That Cries, "Thy dead have never died — 
Rejoice!" 

Theodosia Garrison 



Page Thirty-six 



May I say to the women who have lost 
sons and husbands and fathers and 
brothers in the world war, or in any other 
war, that there remains to them one of the 
greatest and most honorable tasks in the 
world service. This task is one which 
they are peculiarly fitted to perform, be- 
cause they know what they are talking 
about, and people are duty-bound, honor- 
bound to listen. It is a task which can 
fall only to those who can speak, as they 
will speak, from the heart, to voice the 
heart of humanity. 

And the task is this: To co-operate and 
uphold the spirit which is striving to be 
born into the world, which shall make 
war in our world unthinkable. 

Sometimes I feel that if the war is to 
leave the world, it is women who must 
drive it out. Always I know that it is 
women who can foster and cherish every 
faintest effort to speak out against the use 
of wounds and death as a means of settle- 
ment of social difficulty. Bear in mind 
what they say: That another great war 
would be fought chiefly by use of deadly 
gases and disease germs. Help to save 
from that the boys of the future. Help to 
save from that your country and the 
world. 

Page Thirty-seven 



Will you pass resolutions and publish 
them broadcast, will you initiate giant 
petitions among your Service Star women, 
and join your energy to the groups of men 
and women the world over who are trying 
to make clear to the world the anachron- 
ism of war? You can do this with the ef- 
fectiveness of the love which you had for 
those whom war has taken. You can do 
this because there is no one who will not 
listen to you. You can do this for the 
world tomorrow, whose hope lies in today. 

Zona Gale 



Page Thirty-eight 



Moosehead Lake, Kineo, Maine 

July 23, 1920. 
Dear Mrs. Moms: — 

I enclose a poem, my message to the 
women of the Gold Star. I have an ad- 
ditional reason for being very glad to send 
you and them my greetings and Mend- 
ship. My husband was wounded in active 
service, and came very near never coming 
back to marry me. So the gift that other 
women made is a very real thing to me. 

Thank you for writing me. 

Yours sincerely, 
Maragret Widdemer Schauffler 



Page Thirty-nine 



PEACE-TIME 
Where the cruel bullets fled, where the 

guns gave death, 
Wistful scarlet flowers sway and hope 

that men forget, 
Sun and wind make smooth again and 

summer brings its breath 
Sweet with flowers that we loved well ere 

grief had found us yet. 

Earth forgets so soon — so soon! Not a 

wind that blows 
Tells of blackened fields it knew, tells of 

death gone by, 
And the bird in Flanders trees — what then 

if he knows 
Bitter things and sorrowful? Still his 

song thrills high. 

Surely where the others are, they who died 

to save 
Quiet days and children's peace and little 

laughing things, 
They are glad to have for gifts things that 

dear Death gave, 
Heaven's flowers for earthly flowers, gold 

wings for white wings. 

Surely they too go this day down a flower- 
set way, 

Page Forty 



Jesting still and singing still in boyish gay 
accord, 

Glad of sun and air and youth and heaven- 
ly holiday, 

Greeting in this time of peace — their Cap- 
tain and their Lord ! 

Margaret Widdemer 



Page Forty-one 



THE SERVICE STAR. 



To the new Star in the firmament of 
humanity, cousin to the Star of Bethle- 
hem! In its sacred import of love and 
suffering and sacrifice, how shall we or- 
dinary human beings understand and 
measure up to its message? Surely it 
does carry a message to a world too ready 
to forget love and sacrifice and suffering. 
Its significance should command us to 
aims higher than mere self interest; 
should teach us that there is something in 
the world besides doing everything for 
ourselves. Even should we Americans 
lose sight of the word patriotism — still 
none of us can root out of his heart a feel- 
ing that the one really great thing to do in 
life is not to do something for ourselves, 
but something for someone else. That 
is to say, the splendid thought of service is 
after all instinctive in the human heart. 

For this reason I think we may, without 
irreverence, call the Service Star cousin 
to the Star of Bethlehem. They both 
draw their lasting light from the same un- 
failing source, vast, kindly and beneficent. 
They both will always shine undimmed, 
and the ages in time will understand alike 
the one and the other. 

Page Forty-two 



With every respect for those of your 
Organization who are trying to bring into 
the workaday world a clearer vision and a 
higher unselfishness, I send my best greet- 
ings and wishes for continued prosperity. 

Emerson Hough 

Chicago, Aug. 30, 1920. 



Page Forty-three 



120 East 30th Street 
New York, N. Y. 

August 1st, 1920. 

To you mothers, wives, sisters, daugh- 
ters and sweethearts, who gave so much 
in the great World War, there is so little 
that the rest of us can say. How can we 
tell you all that we feel for you, all that we 
owe you ? But you have the greatest con- 
sciousness of having rendered, through 
your patient suffering, more than your 
valiant share in the battles that saved 
humanity; and to you, no less than to 
those who died that we might live, there 
is a debt of gratitude on the record of 
Time that we shall never be able to repay. 
Our hearts go out to you; and the clean, 
fine, splendid spirit of America will never 
forget you, 

Charles Hanson Towne 



Page Forty-four 



July 19, 1920. 

Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

Thank you so much for your kind 
letter. I am very glad to be here in time 
to send my message. It comes from the 
heart: 

"Life's deepest and most holy places are 
Beyond the power of any words to 

reach. 
Between the Sisters of the Golden Star 
There is no need of speech, — 
Only the look, the pressure of the hand 
That says— "I Understand." 
Grant us in your high comradeship a 

part 
Whose stars of Gold are hidden in the 
heart." 

Greetings and all good wishes. 

Amelia Josephine Burr 



Page Forty-five 



35 Newbury Street 
Boston, Mass. 

July 22, 1920. 
My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I am interested to hear of the conven- 
tion of the Service Star Legion. I feel 
very strongly that we all owe, to the 
women who gave what was dearest to 
them in the world that the world might be 
saved, a debt of gratitude and apprecia- 
tion. 

To those whose sons "Sleep in France", 
I send my deep sense of their sorrow and 
their pride, and with it comes my grati- 
tude for what they gave, when they sent 
husbands or sons or brothers over to 
Europe. 

Sincerely yours, 

Margaret D eland 



Page Forty- six 



July 30th, 1920. 
Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I am honored by being allowed to send 
a word of greeting to the wives and 
mothers of our dead soldiers. They like 
their husbands and sons, made the great 
sacrifice. 

That the world should hold wrongs 
which call for such a righting is a stern 
lesson to humanity. The men who died 
to save us from degradation will never be 
forgotten while history is taught, and 
truth is spoken. 

Sincerely yours, 

Agnes Repplier 



Page Forty-seven 



Bedford Hills, N. Y. 
July 21st, 1920. 
Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I am greatly flattered that you should 
desire some message from me and, while 
my pen is not capable of rising to the op- 
portunity, I send you the best it can ac- 
complish at the moment: 

Wars are won by mothers no less than 
by soldiers. Every body realizes, of 
course, that if there were no mothers there 
would be no soldiers; but it is too often 
forgotten that the bravery of the soldiers 
is inspired by the maternal courage and 
may be measured by it. 

Mothers give twice to battle: their own 
hearts and the heart of hearts that every 
son is to the one who gave him life. 

The triumph of our country is due to the 
fact that the American mother is unsur- 
passed in valor, wisdom and in the pride 
of partnership with her children in all that 
concerns them. 

Yours faithfully, 

Rupert Hughes 



Page Forty- eight 



Gamp Content, Gray Maine. 

August 30th, 1920. 
My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

As one who had the privilege of serving 
for a time in France under the auspices of 
the Y. M. C. A. as a member of the A. E. 
F., I take pleasure in sending a word of 
greeting to the Service Star Legion. 

It is good to know that such an Or- 
ganization exists to foster the idealism for 
which we all unitedly stood throughout 
the War. May the Service Star Legion be 
blessed in every way. 

Yours faithfully, 

Horatio W. Dresser 



Page Forty-nine 



Arlington, Vermont. 
September 11, 1920. 

Dear Mrs. Morris: 

Here is the little message, written out of 
a full heart which you asked for, for the 
American women who have lost someone 
in the war. I hope it may be what you 
wanted. 

Mrs. Browning once wrote to a friend 
whose only son had died, "I write you with 
my arm around my own little boy, and 
love knows the secret of grief." 

Those words have been in my mind like 
the refrain of a poem, ever since I was 
asked to send a message to the American 
women who lost their men in the war, 
husband, or son, or brother. During my 
three years in France, with my husband 
in service, I was never without the pang 
of terrified apprehension which made me 
fear every knock on the door, every ring 
at the door-bell, every arrival of the mail. 
I slept through no night without starting 
awake to know that fear again, without 
seeing before me in the dark, one horri- 
fying possibility after another. 

My husband came home safe. I was 
spared the bitterness of the loss which 
other women suffered. But love knows 

Pasre Fifty 



the secret of grief, and it is from a full 
heart, aching with tender sympathy, that 
I send my respectful and affectionate 
greetings to the brave American women 
who are facing life, after the greatest of 
all losses. 

With sincerest greetings and congratula- 
tions on the fine work you are doing, 

Cordially yours 

Dorothy Canfield Fisher 

(Mrs. John R. Fisher) 



Page Fifty- on « 



743 Greenwood Ave., 

Portland, Oregon. 

Dear Mrs. Moms: — 

Your letter makes me proud and happy. 
Thank you for letting me send you a mes- 
sage. I had three brothers in France, and 
my heart is in all I write. 

With my love, 

Mary Carolyn Davies 



To The Women of Service Star Legion: 
The bodies of certain men and the 
hearts of certain women, have been 
chosen as the pages on which the history 
of the American nation has been written, 
To those women who have been so 
chosen to be part of \he book of our 
country's greatness, we do not give pity — 
only a great reverence. 

Mary Carolyn Davis 



Page Fifty-two 



110 Waverly Place 
New York City, N. Y. 

Sept. 6th, 1920. 

My dear Mrs. Moms: — 

I hope I have not waited too long before 
writing you and that your society has not 
already held its Convention. I put your 
letter aside as not needing an immediate 
answer and then it got overlooked. 

However, I am hoping this will still 
reach you in time for your Annual Con- 
vention, for I want very much to send your 
Organization a greeting. 

Please tell your members for me, that 
I feel this is the woman's day. That the 
world has reached a state of disorder and 
upheaval largely because the woman's 
voice, the mother's voice, has not been 
heard in public affairs. Now woman has 
her opportunity, She must take her place 
in public matters beside man. She must 
do this not because she is like man, but be- 
cause she is different, because she has 
things of her own to contribute. 

As I stood on the battle-field and viewed 
the destruction and disaster, I could not 
help thinking of the mother who went in- 
to the nursery to find everything smashed 
and the small boys fighting one another. 

Page Fifty-three 



One little son might be right and the 
other wrong, but the mother would insist 
that there was another and a better way of 
settling disputes than by bloodshed and 
destruction. 

It is with that same spirit and attitude 
that women must face the world. They 
must, if you like, take their brooms and 
dust pans out into life and clean up the 
mess, — make another war impossible. 
They must remake reformatories and 
prisons, stop child labor, insist that every 
child be fed, and that mankind love one 
another. 

Women have made the home. They 
have made it a place of love, and peace 
and happiness. Now they must extend 
their task to the whole world. They must 
grease the wheels, remove the friction, 
fill the world with joy and justice, bring 
mother spirit into all life. 

Trusting this message reaches you and 
that it is what you desire, with all good 
wishes, 

Very sincerely yours, 

Madeleine Z. Doty 



Page Fifty-four 



William Graves Sharp 
Elyria, Ohio. 

August 25, 1920. 

Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I am pleased lo learn from your letter 
that the third annual convention of the 
Service Star Legion is to be held. It 
seems peculiarly appropriate that one of 
the sessions of this convention is to be 
devoted to specially honoring the women 
whose sons, husbands and brothers gave 
their lives in a foreign land in such a great 
cause. As a proud witness "over there" 
of their valor and manly behavior, it is 
most pleasing to me to bear this message 
testifying to the lasting appreciation 
which has been accorded to their memory 
by those whose sons fought beside them 
under other flags. 

With the zeal and faith of the Crusaders 
of old, did these American boys with both 
the cause for which they fought and im- 
mortality. By their unselfish sacrifice 
they made more secure the cause of world 
liberty and justice. They gave to their 
country's name an added luster in that the 
only return they asked was the triumph of 
these principles and the heritage to the 
world of an enduring peace. Fortunate 

Page Fifty-five 



indeed for the stability and perpetuity of 
the best traditions of our country, their ex- 
ample will continue to live and be ex- 
emplified in the citizenship of millions of 
their comrades in arms. To the members 
of the American Legion have been be- 
queathed obligations as sublime in 
character as will be, I am persuaded, the 
manner of meeting them. 

Surely the soldiery of no other nation 
ever gave nobler response to their 
country's call then was given to the ex- 
alted appeals of President Wilson by these 
young heroes, living or dead, whose deeds 
you will meet to commemorate. 

Wishing for your convention the fullest 
measure of success I am, believe me, 

Sincerely and cordially yours, 

Wm. Graves Sharp 



Page Fifty-six 



Mohawk, New York. 
August 6th. 1920. 
Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

Your note has been forwarded to me. I 
take pleasure in sending a greeting to the 
women who gave their sons and husbands 
to their Country's service. 

In the midst of his great sorrow at the 
death of his son Quentin, my brother, 
Theodore Roosevelt, was filled with 
solemn exaltation that his own flesh and 
blood should have paid the price of self- 
less patriotism, and had he been alive, his 
greeting to the women whom the Service 
Star Legion wish to honor in September, 
would have been far more of pride in the 
achievement made possible by our gallant 
men who died than of sympathy in their 
loss, — keen as his sympathy was for those 
who had had to bear what he had to bear. 

My own two sons came back to me, but 
having lost a splendid son, just twenty, by 
a cruel accident, I can envy the mothers 
whose boys died nobly for a great cause. 

All honor to those boys and to the 
women who bore them and gave them to 
their country! 

Sincerely yours, 

Gornine Roosevelt Robinson 

Page Fifty-seven 



533 Mount Prospect Avenue 
Newark, New Jersey 

July 29, 1920. 

Dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I wish you would say to the women of 
America who have given sons, brothers 
or husbands to the War, that it is the 
firm faith of millions of their comrades 
that they are not dead. They still fight in 
the hearts of men for the fine ideals for 
which they made the Supreme Sacrifice. 
They can only die when we forget. 

Yours sincerely, 

Coningsby Dawson. 



Page Fifty- eight 



Irvin S. Cobb 
Rebel Ridge 

Ossining, N. Y. 

My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I realize only too well that no feeble 
word from me could add anything to the 
undying glory of the memories of the men 
who died for their country in the Great 
War. But to the women who gave their 
sons and their husbands to die for us I ask 
leave to offer this brief message of sin- 
cerest sympathy. 

Yours very truly, 

Irvin S. Cobb 



Page Fifty-nine 



Hollywood, Calif. 
July 23, 1920. 
My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

Will you present my congratulations to 
the noble and intelligent women of the 
Service Star Legion, who played so great 
and indispensable a part in the history of 
their country, and who, in common with 
their men, may be relied upon to perform 
the same part again and again? 

Let us hope they have only peace and 
happiness before them; but it is not to be 
ignored that the world may be in turmoil 
for many years to come and that we shall 
have to assume our share of the burden. 

Gertrude Atherton 



Page Sixty 



Merrymead Hill, N. H. 

My dear Mrs. Morris: — 

I do not know of any personal thing that 
could be said that isn't bathos in contrast 
with the old imperishable words: — "Dulce 
et Decorum est pro patria Mori." 

Sincerely yours, 

Alice Brown 



Page Sixty- one 



Seal Harbor, Maine, 

July 20th, 1920. 

Mothers of the Starry Band — be thank- 
ful for the victory of those who died, in- 
spire the service of those who live, and 
look forward! 

Sincerely yours, 

Henry Van Dyke 



Page Sixty-two 



The price of this book is 
one dollar, postpaid. Orders 
should be sent to Frank S. 
Shankland, Polk Building, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

The royalties on all sales 
will be used to promote the 
patriotic work of Service Star 
Legion. 



